Maliput Melodies: Villagers Unite to Create Film, Relatives Play Roles, Screened at IFFI

'Maliput Melodies' is a film shot in an Adivasi village. The characters in this film are also relatives. The film's director and producer shared the story of its making in an interview with the magazine.

Goa/Panaji. "Water changes at every ghat, language at every kos..." and adding to this line, "Every village has as many people as there are stories." This statement perfectly fits the Odia anthology film "Maliput Melodies". This is a movie that an entire village came together to make. The characters in this film are actually uncles, aunts, grandparents, brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law. Let's learn the complete story of its making from the film's producer Kaushik Das and director Vishal Patnaik. They shared the story of the film's making in a conversation with Patrika's Ravi Kumar Gupta.

Selected from over 400 films

"Maliput Melodies" is the only Odia feature film selected for the Indian Panorama at IFFI Goa 2025. Its official screening was held at the International Film Festival of India. It is among the 25 best films (including 5 mainstream cinema films) chosen from over 400 films.

Story of an unknown village in Odisha

Kaushik Das says that "Maliput Melodies" is a feature anthology film. Its story is from a small village named Maliput in the Koraput district of Odisha. The film was also shot in this village and some locations in Koraput. It might be difficult to believe looking at the many beautiful natural scenes in the film. I am from Bhubaneswar, but when I went there for shooting, I was stunned by the scenery.

Everyone was given a role to avoid any resentment

Director Vishal Patnaik from Jajpur/Jeypore (Odisha) stated during the Q&A session after the screening, "80 percent of the actors in this film are people I know. They are uncles, aunts, paternal aunts, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, etc. When everyone found out I was making a film, they all started asking for roles. To avoid anyone getting upset, I gave everyone a role." It is worth noting that director Vishal is young and hails from Jajpur (Odisha).

Watch this VIDEO of IFFI 2025 as well

The film was made in two and a half years - Kaushik Das

Kaushik Das says, "Although I gave everyone roles, getting everyone to act was the most difficult task because none of them had any prior experience in front of the camera. Therefore, everyone was given training. Everything was ready in about 2.5 years. However, there are also about 20 percent theatre artists, who also helped in training the villagers."

The cost was around 50 lakhs

Kaushik says, "The film was shot in the village and the actors were all known to me. Despite this, it cost around 50 lakh rupees over two and a half years to complete the film. I have made more than 7 films so far. I am currently working on some films. Also, the effort is to bring village stories like this and show the cinematic India to the world."

This anthology film is based on 4 stories

"Maliput Melodies" is a feature anthology film. It contains 4 different stories from the same village. The first story is "Kaan Ka Phool" (Earring), the second story is "Rangmati" (a story of migration), the third story is "Vadya Kar" (drummers), and the final story is "Byah Ghar" (Wedding House). The first story was about father-daughter love; this story kept the audience engaged and carried them forward. However, the audience enjoyed the fourth story the most. It received a lot of applause.